At the present time, in cosmetology, the principal vocation of sun-products is the more or less high protection of the skin from UVA-UVB radiations. Such protection is due to the presence of filters which, depending on their chemical structure, reflect or absorb the solar radiations in a more or less broad zone of the spectrum.
Although these cosmetic products thus ensure a slow, progressive tanning, they do not respond to one preoccupation of the user, that of the harmonization of the pigmentation, the homogeneous distribution of the melanin, in order to prevent the appearance of slightly less pigmented marks after exposure.
Furthermore, in medicine, a very large number of diseases, translated by a localized deficiency of the pigmentation, are known. Such disorders are characterized by a reduction, even disappearance, of the epidermic and/or follicular melanocytes. Such hypo- or amelanoses are localized and affect only certain regions of the skin.
By way of example, this is the case of vitiligo, a disorder affecting about 1% of the population in Europe. It is translated by achromic marks disseminated at preferential sites (rear face of the elbows, front face of the knees, periphery of the lips or zone of friction).
These marks are due to the absence of melanic pigment at the level of the basal layer of the epiderm. Three etiological hypotheses are put forward to explain the disappearance of the melanocytes: genetic factors (30% of the cases), immunological factors (associated with auto-immune disorders) or nervous factors (psychological shock, stress).
Other types of hypomelanoses may appear further to external aggressions of physical type (heat burns) or chemical type (phenol, local corticoids, etc . . . ) or mycosis (pytiriasis versicolor).
At the present time, oral photochemotherapy may be considered as the only therapeutics for vitiligo: absorption of 8-methoxypsoralene or 5-methoxypsoralene. However, the risk of phototoxicity is great.
In local treatment, dermocorticoids of type II-III are used in certain precise cases. Surgical techniques such as autologous autografts from punch biopsies, grafts of blister roofs or of melanocytes are presently evoked and proposed in rare cases, but often remain at the experimental stage.
Oils of chaulmoogra are extracted from seeds of various species of the Flacourtiaceae family, ligneous tropical plants of asiatic (India, Burma, Vietnam, Philippines), African (Central Africa) and American (Brazil) origin.
Chaulmoogra seeds contain little water, 4 to 6% of mineral matter, 15 to 20% proteins.
The proportion of lipids varies depending on the species, but is always high: 30 to 50%.
Chaulmoogra oils contain 1 to 3% unsaponifiable matter (sterols, carotenoids), unsaturated fatty acid glycerides comprising a pentene cycle attached to a linear side chain terminated by a carboxylic function.
The three principal acids of this type are:
chaulmoogric acid, abundant in the African species (60 to 80%) responding to formula: ##STR1## hydnocarpic acid, abundant in the Asiatic species (50 to 70%), responding to formula: ##STR2## gorlic acid, always present but in small quantities (8 to 15%), responding to formula: ##STR3## PA1 taraktogenos kurzii PA1 hydnocarpus wightiana PA1 hydnocarpus heterophylla PA1 hydnocarpus anthelmintica PA1 hydnocarpus alpina PA1 hydnocarpus cauliflora PA1 hydnocarpus dawnensis PA1 hydnocarpus hutchinsonii PA1 hydnocarpus ovoidea PA1 hydnocarpus subfalcata PA1 hydnocarpus venenata PA1 hynocarpus verrucosa PA1 hydnocarpus woodii PA1 oconba echinata whose butter is called Gorli butter PA1 caloncoba welwitschii PA1 carpotroche brasiliensis PA1 asteriastigma macrocarpa PA1 mayna odorata PA1 lindakeria denrata PA1 caloncoba glauca PA1 taraktogenos kurzii PA1 hydnocarpus wightiana PA1 hydnocarpus heterophylla PA1 hydnocarpus anthelmintica PA1 hydnocarpus alpina PA1 hydnocarpus cauliflora PA1 hydnocarpus dawnensis PA1 hydnocarpus hutchinsonii PA1 hydnocarpus ovoidea PA1 hydnocarpus subfalcata PA1 hydnocarpus venenata PA1 hydnocarpus verrucosa PA1 hydnocarpus woodii PA1 oconba echinata whose butter is called Gorli butter PA1 caloncoba welwitschii PA1 carpotroche brasiliensis PA1 asteriastigma macrocarpa PA1 mayna odorata PA1 lindakeria dentata PA1 caloncoba glauca PA1 for face and body care, for example: day creams, night creams, beauty masks, foaming gels-oils, sun products, PA1 for care and protection of the hair and/or scalp, for example: shampoos, medicated creams, capillary lotions, PA1 for make-up products, for example foundation creams. PA1 daily application in the morning, 5 days out of 7 for eight consecutive weeks at the rate of 0.1 ml per subject. PA1 Cutaneous samplings PA1 the day of tattooing, a biopsy is made in all the subjects at the level of the pigmented zone. In the batch to be treated, the biopsy is made at a distance from the site retained to receive the product. PA1 at the end of the test, four samples are again taken:
10 to 12% of fatty acid of palmitic, oleic, myristic, stearic and palmitoleic type are also found in these oils.
The principal sources of oil are the following varieties:
These oils have traditionally been used in the treatment of leprosy by the internal, external and parenteral route.
By the topical route, they have proved effective in the first stages of the disease by causing the size of the nodules to regress.
It appears that their activity is essentially due to the three principal acids mentioned, of which the spatial structures are close to the cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene ring, characteristic of the sterols. Ethyl, benzyl and methyl esters have been synthesized in order to improve acceptability and tolerance. Similarly, the salts obtained (sodium chaulmoograte, sodium hydnocarpate) exert a dissolving action on the lecithins and cholesterol, which would explain their action on the waxy envelope of the bacilli of leprosy and of tuberculosis.
However, since the arrival of sulfones, and rifampicine, their use in this domain has much regressed.
An anti-inflammatory power (reduction of the oedemas) and lipid-lowering power (reduction of cholesterolaemia) have also been demonstrated.
More recently, French Patent No. 2 518 402 has described compositions for cosmetic use, containing oils of chaulmoogra, modified or not.
Such compositions are used for healing infectious sites or for regularizing the sebaceous activity.
Applicants have now quite surprizingly discovered that oils of chaulmoogra as well as their derivatives, in particular the salts and esters thereof, presented the property of pigmenting piebald (achromic) cutaneous zones by migration of the pigmentation from zones already pigmented, i.e. from the epidermic and/or follicular melanin, after repeated applications.